”The sultan of 11 months, with the coming of Ramadan, the Muslim world started fasting. We all know the fasting process: Sahur is made in the morning before the sun rises, and then neither water, food, nor cigarettes can pass through the throat until the sun sets again, and if it does, the fast is broken according to the religion of Islam.
The benefits and harms of fasting have been talked about millions of times so far. Have you ever wondered what happens in your body while fasting? As you know, fasting will be around 15 hours this year, and in this article, we have told you how being hungry and thirsty causes reactions in your body between the first 4 hours and 4-16 hours. In fact, if you’re wondering, we also tell you what can be caused by staying hungry and thirsty for a longer period of time.
The first 4 hours of fasting after sahur
At the table where everyone gets up and ‘goofs’ so to speak, the first four hours after you eat your last meal until the sun goes down, anabolic known as the growth phase. Your body uses the nutrients you just ate to power your current activity and for cellular tissue growth.
The pancreas produces the hormone insulin, which allows your body to use the glucose released into your bloodstream after a meal and store the excess energy in your cells for later use. As an advice, if you are available, if you do not sleep for the first four hours after sahur and sleep later, fasting can be easier for you because the real hunger begins later.
After the first 4 hours, the remaining 11 hours of the fast
After 4 hours, you enter the second phase of fasting and this phase lasts until iftar. At this stage, all the extra nutrients in your body are used as an extra energy source. This stage is called catabolic degradation.
After your last meal, namely suhoor, when the energy stored in your cells is completely consumed, your body begins to break down stored fat for energy. The body uses chemicals known as ketone bodies to break down stored fat.
The fact that your body starts to break down stored fat is also related to what you eat in sahur. If you ate high-calorie foods at sahur, the new energy stored in your cells will be consumed later and you will start to burn fat later. If you have a goal of losing weight while fasting, you should eat lighter foods at sahur.
When the body starts to burn stored fat, autophagy, one of the most powerful features of fasting, begins. Autophagy is an event triggered by a reduction in a growth regulator called MTOR, and this process is basically a spring cleaning flavor for your cells. During this phase, your body gets rid of dead or damaged cells that can lead to cancer, rapid aging, or chronic disease. After all this process, it is time to break the fast and the circulation is repeated.
Let’s say we don’t fast at Iftar but stay hungry longer, then what happens?
At this point, it’s a little bit of fasting and ‘what if it was like this?’ shifts to answering the question. Scientifically, if you continue to fast for 8 more hours (24 hours in total) after 16 hours, the amount of glucose in your cells, glycogen in the liver and muscles begins to decrease rapidly. This causes your body to start breaking down stored fat much faster.
At this stage, the energy your body needs does not increase much because you may still be able to do activities such as talking and walking without any problems. Of course, if you are doing things like sports, the energy your body needs will increase. At this point, a chemical called AMPK begins to be secreted in your body. This chemical greatly increases the amount of autophagy that occurs throughout your body.
What happens if we overdo it and don’t eat or drink anything for 3 days straight?
If you do not eat after 24 hours and want to continue fasting in order to lose weight, we recommend that you work with a dietitian at this point. After you pass the 24-hour milestone, your body enters a state of ketosis where it depends only on stored fat for energy. As fat cells break down for energy, ketone bodies are formed and released into the bloodstream.
Ketone bodies act as gasoline for your brain when your body is low on glucose. Glucose is our brain’s primary fuel, but ketone bodies can also provide benefits. Burning ketones can increase your cognitive performance and clarity of mental activity.
Your brain also continues to receive a boost for around 24 hours from an increase in brain-derived nootropic factor (BDNF) production. BDNF supports the growth of brain neurons. Not only is it associated with improvements in long-term memory, coordination, and learning, it is also a key enzyme in reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in old age.
No more, do you want to starve for more than 3 days?
When you have passed three days of fasting, your body enters a deep phase of ketosis. The benefits of fasting, such as autophagy, hormones and chemicals that benefit your body, fat burning, and more. But at the same time, your body begins to think that you are starving, and your thyroid hormones begin to suffer because of this.
Research suggests that longer fasting can help your body be more resistant to stress and exposure to toxins, and that certain hormones produced at this stage may have beneficial effects against cancer and aging. Additionally, people with past eating disorders should avoid prolonged fasts and seek medical supervision while fasting.
To summarize what happens in our body while fasting:
In summary, fasting is a very powerful tool for improving your body’s health and stamina. Especially the fasting method in Islam is a very easy method since it can be done for everyone and can be repeated because you only fast for 15 hours. Of course, if you have a goal of fasting for more than 15 hours and strengthening your body, you should definitely do this under the supervision of an expert.
In addition, if you are in one of the groups where staying hungry and thirsty for a long time is risky, make sure to act according to your doctor’s recommendations and make sure you get the nutrients necessary for your health.
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